7 Best Ways to Celebrate Earth Month

What Is Earth Day?

Once a year, over a billion people from around the world come together to honor and advocate for our planet’s health. But this day is about more than just preservation, it’s about education, community, and empowerment. For over 50 years, Earth Day — which falls on April 22 — has served as the catalyst for essential conversations about the health of our planet and the work that needs to be done to better preserve its natural environments and ecosystems.

What Is Earth Month?

More recently, many have started dedicating the entire month of April to celebrating the strides and continued efforts of the environmental movement. With more time to reflect on our past, present, and future conservation work, people the world over have an even better opportunity to shed light on some of the planet’s most pressing issues and establish new habits, relationships, and community-driven efforts to create the type of change we need in order to protect our planet’s future.

So, this Earth Month, we’ve put together a list of ways you can help create a healthier planet, be it on a local or a global scale.

1. Participate in an Earth Month event

If you’re interested in learning more about topics ranging from environmental conservation to grassroots activism, there is a virtual event for you! EarthDay.org has put together a list of events happening in over 190 countries around the world that you can attend to learn, act, or support environmental conservation in the way that best suits you. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, consider hosting an event of your own! You can even register your event on the Earth Day website and get tips and tricks for planning a successful event.

2. Donate to an environmental cause you care about

From the National Forest Foundation to the Environmental Defense Fund, there are innumerable nonprofits around the world that are dedicated to making the world a better place — literally. If you’re looking for a way to get involved by giving back, consider donating to a local or international nonprofit organization. You can support projects across the world or in your own backyard with just a few dollars. So whether you want to support a neighborhood clean-up in your own community or rainforest preservation, there’s a nonprofit out there for you. If you’re not sure where to start, check out Charity Navigator for some expertly vetted ideas.

3. Access a 100% clean energy plan for your home

Thankfully, there are a lot of different ways that we can help improve the health of our planet, but some ways are certainly much easier than others. And accessing a 100% clean energy plan with Inspire is one of those ways. It only takes a few minutes to sign up, and you can rest easy knowing that you’re having a positive impact on the environment every day of the year, Earth Month included. In fact, one year of supporting clean energy can be seven times more impactful than one year of recycling — and that makes a really big difference.

4. Organize a neighborhood clean-up

A neighborhood clean-up is the perfect way to make an immediate impact in your own community — all you need is a pair of gloves and a trash bag! Whether you go out on your own or get together with a group of friends, every piece of trash you pick up will make your neighborhood a more beautiful place to live in. Plus, it will help make sure that the trash doesn’t make its way into waterways or the bellies of any local wildlife. You can even make this into a monthly activity inviting others to join when they can — every little bit counts!

5. Introduce sustainable habits to your routine

Whether we realize it or not, we all have little habits and rituals that we carry out every day — and some of them might not have the best impact on the environment. Take a closer look at your day-to-day habits and see which ones might benefit from a little sustainability sprucing! If you find that you love taking extra long showers in the morning, consider cutting back by a few minutes or using cooler water — this can help you both save water and potentially reduce your utility bill whether you have an electric or gas water heater. Or if you tend to throw away a lot of food at the end of the week, try to make smaller meals or freeze your leftovers to reduce your food waste. And maybe you used to be an avid recycler, but have been getting a little bit lax in your sorting — use Earth Month as an opportunity to revamp your recycling system! There are lots of ways to make more sustainable choices in our daily lives, so keep an eye out for habits you can improve.

6. Swap unsustainable household items with eco-friendly options

Our society’s reliance on single-use plastics has made a big impact on the health of our planet, but cutting out plastic isn’t the only way we can make our homes more eco-friendly and sustainable. Using fewer plastic bags and less plastic wrap will definitely make a difference, but there’s a lot more we can do. For example, many common household cleaning products are made with toxic chemicals that are as bad for the environment as they are for the germs they’re scrubbing. The good news is that there are lots of eco-friendly cleaning products you can use instead, many of which come in sustainable packaging as well. And while you’re swapping out your cleaning products, take a look at your soaps, shampoos, and other beauty products — your body deserves just as much care as the planet, and luckily you can find products that help you take care of both!

7. Go outside and enjoy Mother Earth

What better way to show your appreciation for the world around you than by sitting back and taking it all in? Spend some quiet time outside doing an activity you love, be it hiking, reading, or gardening. With how busy all our lives are, it can be tough to find time to really connect with the world around us. This Earth Month is the perfect time to change that.

There are a lot of different ways that you can help improve the health of our planet, not just during Earth Month but every month. And even the smallest efforts, done every day, can make a big impact — it’s up to each of us to make sure that that impact is a positive one.